The Civil War In America.

The Illustrated London News,
vol.41,
no.1155,
p.84.

July 19, 1862

THE CIVIL WAR IN AMERICA.

(From our Special Artist and Correspondent.)

The Gayoso House, Memphis, Tennessee,

June 10.

After six weeks of cramped existence on a
Mississippi transport, I again find myself enjoying some of the
comforts of civilisation. The limited area of a state-room of the smallest dimensions has changed to an
apartment of such proportions that I am almost tempted to write a new
version of "Une Voyage autour de ma Chambre." But either to write or
draw with the thermometer at 100 deg. in the shade is a task so
laborious, and one's energies become so lymphatic under the moistening
influences of heat, that I must content me with relating facts and
eschew the realms of fancy.

Memphis, the hotbed of Secession, has fallen. The proud city that
would never surrender to the Northern vandal is now garrisoned by
Federal soldiers; the blackened, smoking ruins that were to have
greeted the advent of the invader was an empty boast; the streets
"bathed in blood" but a figurative piece of bombast, for which the
editor of The Appeal is responsible. Commodore
Davis, who commands the national flotilla, need scarcely have wasted
words in writing his despatch. "I came, I saw, I conquered," would
have expressed everything. Never was a success so complete and so
cheaply purchased by the victors; never an enemy so humiliated. The
"stars and bars" have been trailed in the dust; the flag of the Union
waves from the principal buildings in the fallen city. Verily, the
Memphians have eaten dirt.

On the evening of the 4th inst. a lurid glare rising above the
woods that separated us from Fort Pillow betokened the evacuation and
destruction of the last but one of the defences of the Confederates on
the banks of the Mississippi. Captain Phelps, commanding the flag-ship
of the flotilla, immediately started on a reconnaissance round
Craighead Point, whence an uninterrupted view of the works could be
obtained, and found the flames to proceed from the burning of
gun-carriages, cotton embrasures, and barrack-sheds. Beauregard's
retreat from Corinth had induced the abandonment of Fort Pillow; and,
to make its occupation as profitless as possible to the Federals, the
torch had been applied to what remained. Nothing could be seen of the
Confederate fleet; and the presumption was they had fallen back to
Memphis, seventy-five miles below, the result proving this surmise to
be correct. As it would have been extremely unwise to land a force
with the risk of magazines exploding, it was determined to delay the
occupation till the following morning, and accordingly at daylight on
the 5th the flotilla weighed anchor, and steamed down to the still
smoking line of earthworks. The position of Fort Pillow struck me as
being remarkably strong both naturally and artificially. Situated on a
bold rise known as the First Chickasaw Bluff, it commanded the bend in
the river, which here has its channel immediately under the cliff, and
within a hundred yards of the guns, most of which would direct a
plunging fire on passing vessels. The works were in three tiers, and
composed of a water battery over a quarter of a mile in length, a
series of strong redoubts midway up the face of the bluff, and an upper
series partially hidden by dense foliage. A semicircular line of
rifle-pits, running three miles back in the country, protected the
garrison from attack in the rear. The Confederates had evidently been
engaged for some time removing their guns, as we found only twelve
remaining when we landed. A portion of these had been spiked, some had
been burst, and others had been dismounted; but still some half dozen might
prove serviceable to the Federalists. There is no doubt the
Southerners had had at least fifty guns in position; but, finding they
would sooner or later have to evacuate, they had gradually removed the
greater number of their pieces to strengthen the batteries being
constructed at Vicksburg, the last barrier closing the Mississippi to
the Federalists. By the time this letter appears in print the "Father
of Waters" will pursue his course uninterrupted by cannon from his
source to the Gulf of Mexico, and Vicksburg, the final stand-point of
the Confederates, will have been wrenched from them by Davis and
Farragut.

Remaining at Fort Pillow but time enough to make arrangements
for holding it, the flotilla, consisting of five gun-boats,
accompanied by the transports, steamed down the river for Memphis. Now I
realised to the fullest extent the barbarous and wanton destruction of
property of which the Secessionists are guilty. Whenever we approached
a plantation on either the Tennessee or the Arkansas shore we were
certain to see a column of smoke rising in the neighbourhood,
indicating the burning of cotton, or else the water would be covered by
floating masses cast from the bank into the stream. Passing within
hailing distance of one of these plantations, and noticing some men
engaged in efforts to save a quantity that had become entangled with
some drifting timber, I called and asked them by whose orders their
property had been destroyed. Their reply was, "They say it's by order
of the Government, but there aint been no such thing in this dog-goned country for over a
year." I then asked if they were glad to see the stars and stripes
back again, and the answer was, "We guess we are, mighty so;" and, in
token of this feeling being pretty general, numbers came down through
the woods and cheered us as we passed along. We learned that the
Southern fleet had preceded us but a few hours, and that their crews
had landed and searched every plantation they came to for cotton,
which they either burnt or threw into the river, despite the
protestations of the owners. One of their transports we overtook and
captured while engaged in this vandalism, but the more responsible of
those who were on board landed and escaped across the country before
we took possession of her. That night, at ten o'clock, we anchored
three miles above Memphis, concealed from the town by a cluster of
islands known to Mississippi boatmen as "Paddy's Hen and Chickens."
The next day, June 6, was to decide the fate of the city, perhaps of
the Federal flotilla, for, undoubtedly, there would be a great passage
of arms between the rival fleets, the crews of one fighting beneath
the eyes of their Southern belles and inspired to deeds of valour by
their presence. An hour after the flotilla had come to its moorings a
dead silence reigned on every vessel: many that night said "God save
us!" and others cried "Amen!"

At five a.m. on the morrow the signal was flying from the Benton
(flag-ship) to cast off, and at half-past five we rounded the point
that separated us from Memphis, and came in full view of the city and
the Confederate fleet, eight in number, drawn up in line across the
river to dispute our progress. Nothing daunted, the five national
gun-boats steadily pressed forward; and as we drew nearer we saw that
the bluff in front of the town was covered by a dense crowd assembled
to witness the gladiatorial display. The glorious sun of June rose
resplendent, shedding its golden rays on spire and roof, and bathing
the brown old Mississippi in a flood of light that made its opaque
waters fairly sparkle. The parti-coloured masses on the cliff dressed
in their gay summer clothing gave to the scene a festive appearance
strangely at variance with the stern reality of war about to be
enacted in their presence. But I was soon called from the
contemplation of the spectators in the amphitheatre tiers to the
arena itself, in which I was somewhat of an actor, for the first note
of defiance had been roared from the throat of a 64-pounder, and the
shot scattered the water up all round. In a few minutes all the
vessels on each side were engaged, and the firing became general, the
Southern boats slowly falling back while we continued advancing. Two
vessels under a full head of steam came from our rear and passed
swiftly through our line, each seeking an antagonist in the
Confederate fleet. They mounted no guns, and had but a crew of twelve
riflemen stationed behind a massive loopholed bulkhead. A few weeks
since they were ordinary river steamers, but, having been thoroughly
strengthened and protected by massive timbers and a solid iron-tipped
prow placed on each, it was determined to try them as rams. On they
sped unharmed by the storm of shot and shell which was rained upon
them. The first, the Queen of the West, made for the Beauregard, and,
as the latter sheared off to avoid the blow, she ran foul of the
General Price, one of her consorts, completely tearing the starboard
wheel off the latter and compelling her to run to the Arkansas shore
in a sinking condition, where she was abandoned by her crew. The
General Bragg now came up to the assistance of the Beauregard and
struck the Queen of the West on her port paddle-box, crushing it in,
but in turn got a huge rent in her port bow. In the mean time the
other Federal ram, the Monarch, bore down towards the General Lovell,
and, striking her amidships, cut her down to the water's edge, and in
three minutes afterwards she sunk in one hundred feet of water, taking
with her most of her crew. Thus two of the Confederate boats were
disposed of, six only being left for the five national vessels to
contend with, the rams retiring from the fight. A shot from the Benton,
fired by Captain Phelps, struck the Beauregard in her boilers, and she
went down, giving Commodore Davis, who made the most humane efforts,
barely time to save those on board her. The Jeff Thompson was set on
fire by a shell from a Federal boat, and, being run ashore, blew up
shortly after she was abandoned; the General Bragg also was struck by
a shell and her cotton bulkheads ignited, but the crew of the Benton,
who boarded her, succeeded in extinguishing the fire. To sum up the
whole affair, one Confederate vessel alone escaped--the General Van
Dorn; three were destroyed, and four were captured after a running
fight of one hour and a half.

Next mail will bring you an account of the occupation of Memphis, the
feeling of the people, and their conduct under Federal rule. At
present I can do no more than send you this brief letter, as my time
has been taken up with sketching.